Expansion of renewable electricity generation

2021, the federal government and parliament decided in the Renewable Expansion Act (EAG) that by 2030, 100% of electricity must come from renewable sources. The law defines goals for wind, photovoltaic, water, and biomass on how many terawatt hours (TWh) should be added to annual electricity generation. Wind and photovoltaic are to be expanded particularly strongly.

The flashing dot in the four diagrams indicates how much electricity was generated from wind, photovoltaic, hydropower, or biomass in the last 365 days. We look at the past 365 days because according to the EAG law, from 2030 onwards, electricity must come 100% from renewables, so 365 days in a row and more. The dashed line shows an imaginary line to the expansion target, which is enshrined in the EAG and has been law since July 2021. In addition, the goals of the NEKP and the ÖNIP are displayed for classification. They better reflect the required electricity demand as they are more current. Unlike the EAG target, the ÖNIP and NEKP goals are not binding targets as they are not laws.

Electricity generation from photovoltaic is on track to achieve the 2030 EAG target. In order to achieve the goal for wind energy, more implementation is needed because Austria still has a lot of potential in wind energy. Expansion is unfortunately progressing slowly because too few areas are made available by the federal states for wind turbines, there is a lack of skilled workers, or the federal states' goals are insufficient to collectively achieve the national goal.

The graphic shows the daily share of electricity from renewable energy sources in Austria in relation to the daily grid load. The considered renewable energy sources include solar energy, wind power, the renewable shares from waste incineration, as well as hydropower (run-of-river and storage power plants).

The largest potential for expanding wind power and photovoltaics by 2030 is in Lower Austria according to the Federal Environment Agency and IG Windkraft. The federal states of Tyrol, Vorarlberg, and Salzburg also have wind power potential. Although the total potential is lower due to the many mountains compared to Burgenland, it is still of great importance. For households and businesses in Austria and neighboring countries, it would be advantageous if wind power is also expanded in the mountainous federal states. Especially during the cold seasons, a lot of wind power is generated, while electricity generation through photovoltaics decreases compared to summer. Additionally, energy demand increases in winter, which is why wind turbines are important in all federal states. If wind energy is generated locally, it does not need to be imported from other regions, relieving the power grids.

Are the federal states on track to meet their own self-imposed goals for expanding renewable energies? Here you can also see how much could be expanded in each federal state by 2030. In addition, the "technical potential" can be displayed, i.e., the maximum potential that could be expanded overall. Since hydropower fluctuates greatly from year to year, we show an average of the last 5 years, for 2023, for example, the average from the years 2023 to 2019. Styria published its plan in 2024, as production data for the federal states is only available up to 2023, the potential path starts a bit later. Further method explanation can be found at the end of the page. (Currentness of federal states' goals: 10/2024)

These visualizations show the expansion targets of the federal states in relation to the respective national target. For each energy source, the expansion targets of the 9 federal states are added together and compared to the national expansion targets stipulated in the EAG for the year 2030. In the case of photovoltaics, the federal states' targets together almost meet the EAG target. However, for wind energy and hydropower, there is still a gap of a few percentage points to cover the target. Some federal states have not set any targets, such as Vienna, Vorarlberg, and Upper Austria in the field of wind energy. In addition to the federal states' targets, which together make it possible to achieve the national targets, more is needed: for example, an expansion of transmission lines or sufficient areas where wind turbines are allowed to be built, also known as zoning.